


How clumsiness can be the beginning of something great

by myownfairytale25



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Angry Draco, Awkward Flirting, Clubbing, Clumsy Harry, Cute, Happy Ending, Insecurity, M/M, a bit angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 16:01:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9279047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myownfairytale25/pseuds/myownfairytale25
Summary: Harry trips over Draco. Twice. A rather angry Draco eventually realizes he can't be furious with someone this cute.





	

Being a 21-year-old in a big city like London is supposed to be easy. That’s what Draco Malfoy thought when he moved from his parents’ countryside in Wiltshire to Great Britain’s capital to study journalism. He wanted to have an easy-going life with friends, perhaps even parties, alcohol and a lot of snogging with random blokes. Also sharing a flat with his best female friend Pansy Parkinson would be great since she was an awesome partner at picking up good-looking guys and all in all a very good person. 

But when Draco was waiting at an Underground station for his train to arrive, he reconsidered his former statement. People were running around the station, being unexceptionally stressed and hectic. One guy almost ran him down with his coffee- to-go dangerously close to Draco’s new white dress shirt which cost him a little fortune. He stared at Draco for a short moment but looked away as quickly as he came. He muttered something that was only understandable if you had the ears of a bat, but obviously Draco didn’t. The young man looked quite fit from behind and had raven-black hair. His shoulders were broad and seemed to be muscular, very contradictory to Draco’s figure who was rather skinny and slim. 

Draco hated people like this who weren’t able to look around themselves and were only focused on their own behalf. To be true, Draco was such a person, too, but he’d never admit that. 

When he finally managed to get into the train, he released a little sigh and plopped down on a vacant seat. He had to stay in this filthy and noisy compartment for about 20 minutes, so he had enough time to read a passage or two from his textbook he had to study for one of his lectures at university. Although studying journalism was his choice, a book about theories of communication didn’t catch his interest at all.

He thought about putting it back into his bag and listening to his favourite music instead, but eventually made the decision it would be more intelligent to carry on with the studying. It was a perfect coincidence he received a text message from Pansy right at this moment. It said: “Hey Draco. Wanna meet up later today? I propose 8 o’clock at the new club we were last week? Tell me, if you’d like to get some takeaway before! XXX Pans”.

A little surprised by the text, Draco confirmed Pansy’s suggestion and moved on with his prior occupation. After the 20 minutes were over, he stepped out of the train and made his way to uni. 

***

The annoying ringing of his phone tore Harry Potter from his much needed sleep and he could only answer the aggravating call after groaning very loudly. It was his best friend Hermione who obviously wasn’t aware of the time.

“Why are you calling me at such an ungodly hour, ‘Mione?”, Harry asked.

Still half asleep, he managed to put on his circle round glasses and ruffle through his hair twice. Harry didn’t hear Hermione’s answer due to his loud yawn. 

“What did you say?” 

“Harry, can’t you just listen to what I’m saying for once? It’s like talking to a wall. I just told you it’s no ungodly hour. It’s 2 p.m. and you should get out of bed now, if you don’t want to miss your very important examination!” 

Completely thunderstruck, Harry jumped out of his bed with his phone in one hand and a white T-shirt in the other one. Trying to get dressed as fast as possible, he thanked Hermione for waking him up and hung up. After he finished zipping up his trousers he grabbed his purse, keys and a jacket and ran out of his little flat on the way to university.  
But he couldn’t make it through the exam without a nice, hot coffee, so he bought one at his favourite coffee place and ran to the train station where he almost knocked over a good looking man with very pale hair and complexion. He muttered his apologies, but the handsome bloke didn’t notice and headed to the tube.

Three hours and two coffees later, Harry left the examination building and checked his phone for any new calls. Indeed, there was one, again from Hermione. He dialled her number immediately and waited for her to answer.

“Hey Harry. How was your exam?”

“Quite good, I think. If my impression isn’t completely wrong, I should’ve passed it.”, Harry said with a little smile playing on his lips.

Hermione was always really happy for him, if he managed to pass an exam. Harry hasn’t been the best student at school and, unfortunately, also at university he wasn’t that good. He sometimes couldn’t get all of the facts into his brain and was a little mad at himself for it, because he invested so much time in the studying but nevertheless the results weren’t that satisfying. Harry envied Hermione’s great common knowledge and ability to keep every little information in her mind, but he couldn’t change it. 

“That’s great, Harry. Really, I’m proud of you. So, what I actually wanted to ask is if you’d like to have a couple of drinks with me tonight. I thought we could celebrate your last exam together, if you want?” 

“Yeah, sure Hermione. Sounds great. Do you wanna meet up at seven at my flat, we grab some takeaway and head to a bar after that?” 

“Yes. I’d love to. See you, Harry”, she answered and hung up. Harry was happy to be done with all of his exams for this semester and walked back to the underground station and made his way back to the flat. 

***

After finishing their meals at a small Italian bistro, Pansy and Draco made set out for the club. It was called “Cherry’s”, a strange name in Draco’s opinion. When they entered, a slight smell of booze and the noise of chattering people came out. Draco didn’t use to go out on a weekly basis, but since Pansy and him moved to London, there was almost nothing he could do against it. Pans was very convincing concerning this subject and kept on blabbering about how they were supposed to meet new people and get to know the city so Draco didn’t really have a choice. If he were honest to himself, he’d admit that he liked going out at least as much as his best friend did. He got drink offers from every corner and it felt as if everyone wanted to dance with him. But Draco often politely refused. He wanted to make his own conquests and not be the one who got conquered. Nevertheless, he took some offers from the extremely handsome blokes he just couldn’t dump. Sometimes he even took them to the dance floor afterwards to snog them senseless and take them home. It mostly was a fun experience. He didn’t want to do that tonight, though. 

Draco lead the two of them to the back of the club to sit at a small table for three. They both sat down and after some time, Draco stood up to get their drinks from the bar. The club was already half full, so it took almost 20 minutes to get the beverages. When he arrived at their table with both of their drinks in his hand, Pansy was occupied with speaking to a quite beautiful man, who was in fact Draco’s type, too. After Draco cleared his throat twice, the two lovebirds looked up and smiled rather timidly.

“Hey Draco. This is Chad, he is in my economy class and we just met. Quite the coincidence, don’t you think?” Pansy said a little nervous. She was behaving like a girl at primary school, Draco figured. 

“Yeah, great.”, he answered. “Here, your drink. I’m sorry it took so long, but you see how many people are waiting to get their booze.” Draco apologized half-heatedly. 

“No problem, Dray. Thanks for getting them. I’ll take care of the next round.” Pansy turned around to face her acquaintance from uni. “Hey Chad, do you wanna sit with us for a while or is there someone waiting for you?”, she asked while twirling a strand of her pitch-black hair between her index and middle finger. 

“No, actually I’d like to stay here for some time, if it’s not a problem.”

The last part he said looking at Draco who wasn’t really listening. He looked through the crowd to find someone worth his precious time, not like this Chad-guy who obviously was only interested in Pansy. 

“Hmm?”

“Chad asked if you’d mind him staying here with us.”, Pansy repeated a little annoyed. 

“No, I don’t mind at all. Actually I was just going to go to the loo, if you’d excuse me.”

Draco got up again, took his glass of scotch, cleared it in one gulp and made his way to the toilets. He didn’t really care if Pansy would think of him as rude. He had neither the time nor the patience to watch her making out with someone while he was just sitting around doing nothing. So he was going to have some fun himself. He went to the loo, as announced, and left the main club to go to the outside smoking area. Draco wasn’t a real smoker, but in connection with booze or a lot of boredom, he occasionally liked the feeling of it. He dragged a pack of fags out of the back pocket of his trousers and lit the tip of one. At the time he almost finished his cigarette, for the second time in one day, someone fell over him.

***

‘Oh no’, Harry thought when he tripped over his own feet. ‘I am too clumsy, why can’t I just walk like a normal person? I am not even that drunk.’

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the smoking stranger Harry ran down asked.

“I, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you. I was just going out and then you where there and yeah, I’m sorry. A lot.”, Harry stuttered embarrassedly.

“Maybe you should clean your glasses then!”, the other man spat. 

Only then Harry looked upwards to meet with fierce grey-blue eyes which looked like they were able to kill. He saw the blond strands falling from the man’s head and recognized them immediately. It was the handsome man he tripped over at the Underground station. Now he had the chance to have closer look at him. He was really beautiful from this distance, even more than before. His pale skin showed some blue veins running through his body, the blond eyebrows and lashes were almost too light to see. He was thin and a little taller than Harry himself and had some very delicate features like his long fingers and the lean -- He heard someone clearing his throat, snapped out of his staring session and resumed talking.

“I already told you that I’m sorry. There’s hardly anything else I could do. I didn’t ruin your shirt or damaged anything else. So if you could stop yelling at me for being a little clumsy, I’d be very thankful.”

The other man looked quite surprised of this answer and his open mouth snapped shut. That was before his expression changed as if remembered something. Or someone.  
“I know you”, he said with a raised voice. “You were the dickhead who already fell over me at the underground station! How left-handed can one human being be to trip over the same person twice a day? You idiot almost ruined my new silk shirt. And don’t tell me again to stop yelling at you, I have all the rights to do so!” His voice grew louder and louder with every sentence and some people were already watching.

Harry was confused and since he didn’t know what to do, he started laughing. For him, the whole situation was so ridiculous, he couldn’t do anything else. When he was almost barking with laughter, he looked at his opponent and the smile fell from his face. Now he was watching a very angry, annoyed and exasperated face. 

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t see you. Twice. I didn’t do it on purpose, so all I can do is to apologize again. I am really very sorry for this and I hope I won’t ever run into you again. Happy?”

“I accept your attempt at apologizing. But if you are already disturbing me and wasting my time, you could at least be so kind to tell me your name.”

That was not what Harry was expecting, but he took the opportunity to take the conversation to a more friendlier level. 

“Sure. I’m Harry, Harry Potter and what’s your name?”

“Draco Malfoy. So what are you doing when you’re not trying to throw me to the ground?” Draco asked with a half-smile tugging at his lips.

“That was not what I was trying, but I wouldn’t mind seeing you sprawled out on the ground more often.” ‘Oh no, did he really just say that? Draco was only trying to make some small talk and Harry was ruining this conversation with flirting in the most awkward way humanly possible. It must have been the two whiskeys he drank before. He’d never say something like that being sober, wouldn’t he?

“Sorry?”, Draco asked looking a bit shocked.

“Oh nothing. Ignore me. I was going to say that I’m a student at the London University. My major is economy and I finished my last exam for this semester a couple of hours ago. That’s actually why I was running and not looking around myself at the station. I was late for my exam and had to run to the train, so I wouldn’t miss it. I’m sorry, again.”

“It’s fine, really. I’m sorry, too. For yelling at you, not everyone can be as graceful as me.”, Draco said with an infuriatingly hot smirk.

“Okay thanks, but that statement sounds really arrogant, Draco.” Harry said grinning.

“Yeah, I figured, but that’s just how I am. I don’t know why I should be talking badly about myself if I know it’s not true. So why not show who I am right from the beginning?”

“You’ve got a point. I don’t like changing myself for some people who can’t deal with me the way I am. See, we already found something we have in common. A couple minutes ago, I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.” Harry said now watching Draco as he took a second cigarette.

“Could I have one, too?”, he asked. Hermione would be very disappointed in him, if she knew he smoked. It’s not like he was a chain smoker, but he smoked rather often than not. He wasn’t proud of it, but couldn’t help it yet. That’s when he remembered her and told himself to go back to ‘Mione after finishing the fag with Draco.

***

“Yes, sure.”, Draco said and handed him one. He lit his own cig and after that Harry’s. 

“Thanks. So what are you doing all the time, besides going out and snapping at strangers?” 

“I am a university student myself, my major is journalism and I live in a flat with my best friend Pansy with whom I am here tonight. But she was occupied with some guy named Chad and I really didn’t want to disturb them or be disturbed by them, to be clear. So I went outside to find me a handsome bloke myself and yet, I’ve only met you.” 

The moment he realized what he said, Draco’s eyes widened and he started coughing. 

“Are you okay?”, Harry asked a bit concerned while clapping him on his back.

“Yes, thank you. But are you okay? I just insulted you and you helped me.” Draco answered surprised. He already regretted his words from before. It sounded as if he wouldn’t think of Harry as handsome, but that was exactly what he was thinking. Harry was cute, his green eyes, half hidden behind his round glasses, were stunning and his broad shoulders looked great. He really had to keep himself from ruffling through the black hair and to touch his strong arms. His awkward attempt at flirting from before made him even cuter than he was without it. And now he ruined it by saying such an unqualified, stupid thing. 

“No, it’s okay. I’m used to getting insulted, normally not because of the way I look, but it doesn’t make such a big difference. Really, no problem.” Harry stopped talking with a shy smile playing at his lips.

“No it’s not. At first, being insulted in any way is not cool and friendly and I hate it, although I already did it to you at least three times today which I am indeed very sorry for. But also, I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. I actually do think you’re very attractive, if you even care.” Draco thought he had never sounded so insecure, but the mere presence of Harry made him a little nervous, now they emerged to a conversation and not only shouting. He looked at the raven-haired man hopefully and waited for an answer. But Harry just stared at him incredulously, finished his cigarette and didn’t even try to form a sentence with his pretty mouth. 

“So, will you give me an answer or not?”, Draco asked.

“Huh? Oh, I didn’t realize you posed me a question. Yes, I actually care what you think about my appearance. How could I not? I mean, you’re the best looking man I have ever met, normally I would do anything to get your attention. But now that I have it, I kinda don’t know what to do. It’s strange for me that you think I’m attractive.” 

Harry didn’t stop babbling and Draco didn’t know what to respond even if he stopped. What he said didn’t really make sense, but he immediately knew what he had to do. Before he could overthink his decision, he grabbed Harry’s cheeks, pulled him closer and kissed him. At first, Draco was the only one doing the work, but Harry must’ve been surprised, so Draco could forgive him for that. Draco kept kissing him and tried to open his mouth with his tongue. When Harry finally responded and kissed him back, Draco released a happy sigh and pulled Harry even closer. Their chests brushed against each other and also other parts of their bodies were touching. Harry moaned when Draco flicked his tongue against his again and again. They both tilted their heads, so the kiss grew even deeper than before. After some time, Harry pulled away and looked up at Draco with flushed cheeks, round eyes and a big smile flashing across his face. Draco watched Harry breathing heavily and noticed how some tiny beads of sweat formed on his own forehead. That was definitely not what he was expecting when he went outside to smoke.

***

Harry took Draco’s hand and pulled him inside the club. After their great snogging experience, he wasn’t willing to let go of Draco yet, so he just took him to their table where he left Hermione some time ago. He was a bit guilty for leaving her alone for such a long time but regretted it in no way. Now he held the hand of the most awesome guy he met in the last months and was grinning like an idiot. It’s not like there weren’t any other good men he met, but they never quite got under his skin or made him feel like this, not like Draco did. He just hoped Draco felt the same way about him. He made a fool of himself a lot of times and didn’t intend to doing it again. 

The reason why he actually wanted to go outside was to get some fresh air. He told Hermione he’d be back in five or ten minutes, not almost half an hour. She must think something had happened to him. But if she’d really been this concerned, she would have searched for him and not stayed at their table.

When Harry and Draco arrived at the booth where he and his friend sat, Harry was really surprised to see Hermione talking to a girl with a black bob and a man with short brown hair. Also Ron, Hermione’s boyfriend and Harry’s other best friend, was sitting next to her. He was the first one to notice Draco and him. 

“Oi, Harry, get over here. Who did you bring with you?” he asked loudly.

“Draco? What are you doing here?” asked the black-haired girl.

“I, Pansy, as you must see, am accompanying my new acquaintance Harry to his friends. And as it seems, you belong to his friends, too.”, Draco said politely but a bit stiff.

‘Acquaintance?’ Harry thought. ‘That’s all I am to him? I thought we were past that. I hope he only says it because he’s in front of strangers’

“No, I don’t, yet. But Chad here knew Hermione from Uni, so he asked me if I liked to join her sitting here so alone, so how could I say no? The purpose of all of this is meeting new people, isn’t it, Draco? Well, so we decided to sit here and wait for you and Harry. Who would have known that you to know each other.” The last bit she said looking at their intertwined hands. 

Harry thought she sounded a bit arrogant, just like Draco, but one can make wrong assumptions if one doesn’t know another person very well. 

The moment she stopped talking, Harry felt Draco squeezing their hands together. He was relieved and smiled shyly at him. Draco smiled back and looked down at his lips. Harry’s cheeks started flushing so he tore his gaze away from Draco to look at Hermione. She, too, smiled at him.

“So, Harry, that’s my best friend and roommate Pansy Parkinson and Chad, apparently a study buddy of her and Hermione.”, Draco stated. He looked at Harry expectantly, so Harry knew he had to introduce his friends, too.

“Yeah, so you know Hermione, and that’s her boyfriend and my best friend Ron. We know each other since middle school and have been friends ever since.” Harry said proudly.

“It’s the same with Pansy, our friend Blaise and me.” Draco mentioned with a smile. Harry found his smile so pretty, he couldn’t take his eyes off him. Draco seemed to notice because he cleared his throat and whispered into Harry’s ear “Stop staring at my mouth, you can do anything you imagine with it later on.” Draco smirked at Harry whose cheeks started blushing. 

What Draco was saying insisted they were going to take things further tonight than just kissing and Harry liked the idea of it very much. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to rush things with Draco, but build something deeper, not just a simple one night stand. To make sure Draco and him were on the same level and had similar expectations, he had to talk to him. In private.

“I want to grab some drinks. Do you want to have some, too?” Harry asked, on the one hand to actually get booze and on the other hand to drag Draco away from their friends. The others told him their orders and thanked him for getting the next round. Harry tugged at Draco’s hand to make sure he was following him. Of course, Draco noticed Harry’s movements and followed him to the bar.

***

“What is it?”, Draco asked suspiciously. Was anything wrong with Harry? Didn’t he want Draco anymore? Draco couldn’t understand what was wrong and when Harry didn’t give him an answer right away, he only got more furious. “Harry, you have to tell me what’s wrong, if you don’t, I can’t help you.”, he tried again.

“I, I’m just afraid that we aren’t on the same level. I know I don’t want this to be a one-time-thing, I want to build up something serious, but if you’re not up to a real relationship, I am perfectly fine with it.” Harry sounded really nervous and looked a bit intimidated, but he didn’t have a reason to, did he? Draco thought he was doing everything to make Harry feel comfortable, but apparently it wasn’t enough.

“Harry, I don’t want this, no, I don’t want us to be a one-time-thing either. Have I made any indications that I would want this? Because if I did, I apologize, it wasn’t on purpose.” Draco wasn’t sure what else he could say to ensure Harry he was serious. But before trying again, he listened to what Harry had to say.

“No you didn’t. It’s just that I’m insecure and I don’t want to screw this up. You seem like a god on earth with your perfect blond hair and your silver eyes and I’m afraid I can’t compete with this. Besides, you must have a long line of potential boyfriends waiting for you who could beat me in the blink of an eye. I don’t want you to lose interest in me after we had sex once or a few times. I know it sounds a bit harsh, but it doesn’t mean I expect you to do this, I’m just a bit insecure, like I said.”

Draco couldn’t believe what he heard. Harry must think of him as a man whore who changes his lovers like his underwear. He said it’s only the insecurity and Draco believed him. It didn’t make the previous statement any better, but how could he not give him a chance? Not responding to Harry’s confession must seem like a “No” to Harry because he resumed talking to him.

“I’m sorry, this sounded too mean. I only wanted to say that I fear not being good enough for you. In the last months, there were only guys who made me feel bad about myself. They told me it was my fault our relationship didn’t work out. I assume that’s why I am like this right now. And the alcohol, yep, definitely. I just wanted to tell you this before we take things further than kissing.” Harry seemed relieved to have said these things because he sighed loudly enough for Draco to hear him.

“You mean kissing like this?” Draco asked before he pulled Harry into an embrace while simultaneously kissing him first on his neck, moving upwards to his jaw and finally meeting Harry’s warm, soft lips in a heart-warming kiss. Harry kissed him back immediately. He opened Draco’s mouth with his tongue and let it slip past the guard of his lips. When he entered his mouth, all Draco could think of was how Harry made him feel. Although he could have slapped him merely an hour ago for tripping over him, and also being so ridiculously cute and unnerving at the same time, he made him feel warm and safe now. Being pulled into the kiss, Draco felt a flutter in his stomach like he had never felt it before. It was so new, so special that he couldn’t take it anymore. He pushed Harry a little bit, only to get some air and to sort through his feelings. Harry looked at him anxiously, as if he did something wrong. 

To make sure Harry didn’t feel this way any longer, Draco smiled reassuringly and pulled Harry into a tight hug again, this time without kissing him. He laid his head on top of Harry’s and murmured “I hope I made clear I want us to become something serious, Harry. Of course, we only met an hour ago and barely know each other. I mean, I literally know nothing about you besides your major and your taste in men. Obviously the irresistible charming and beautiful ones.” He smirked very deeply. “But I want to get to know you, anything about you. I am convinced we could be great for each other, if you want us to be.” 

“Of course I want that. Why wouldn’t I? As I said, to me, you seem perfect and I really don’t want to throw that possibility away. But I’d rather take things slow, if it’s okay with you?” Harry asked.

“Yes, anything you want, Harry.”

Harry grinned brightly and pecked Draco on the cheek, which caused Draco to yelp in surprise. Some people watched them curiously, but they didn’t care.  
They just found the person they wanted to spend the rest of their life with and didn’t even know it, yet. What happened because of stress and the clumsiness of a certain man lead to a love story everyone hopes to experience themselves.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!  
> Thank you for reading. I'd be very happy if you left comments and/or kudos if you liked my fic.  
> This is my very first fan fiction ever and also English isn't my mother tongue, so please be kind. ^_^
> 
> xx


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